I heard that the Chicago and North Western had some kind of motive power that was called Zeppelins. I think it may have been a nickname for some of their steam engines. Does anyone know .?
Your guess is as good as mine [:D][:D]
I believe the C&NW Hudson type steam locomotive were nicknamed Zeppelins for their enourmous size (for this part of the country at least). You may want to use your search engine and check there for more information.
I might not be recalling it correctly but I think it was C&NW’s H class 4-8-4 Northern type that got the nickname “Zepplins of the Rails”. I was looking for it for a few minutes but couldn’t find were I have seen it. I’ll keep looking.
Also, once upon a time, wasn’t there streamline train that had rubber tires, I think Budd had something to do with it, about 1934, and it had that nickname?
According to a 1970 issue of TRAINS which contained an article about them, North Western’s Class H and H-1 4-8-4’s were referred to in a press release as “Zeppelins of the Rails”. They were quite atypical C&NW power and the writer opined that calling them “Zeppelins” was inappropriate because of their great weight which restricted them at first to the Chicago-Omaha main line.
I ate at Cracker Barrell last week in Pigeon Forge, TN, and they had a Lionel reproduction Zepplin in either UP or CNW passenger colors. It has regular flanged wheels and its design is similar to the Zepplin air ship. The model is a one car train, however that doesn"t mean the prototype was only one car. Can’t remember everything the history on the back of the box stated, but I believe it stated that this was a not so successful one-of-a-kind experiment in the '30’s.
Jay
Funny you saw that at a Cracker Barrell as that may have been a tin repro of the “Flying Hamburger.”
Mitch